Welcome to Roses & Thorns. All books receive honest reviews, regardless of our sources. We are no longer accepting submissions. While the blog will remain live, I cannot continue reviewing books. My own writing is suffering from keeping up with two blogs. I will post my last review on May 29, 2017. Thank you Rose and Donna for your help, authors for the (mostly) great reading, and readers for following us.

Roses & Thorns

Saturday, May 31, 2014

In
both the best and worst first day at work ever, docent Claire Wilding meets the
man of her dreams, but her carefully rehearsed guided tour of the George
Washington National Masonic Memorial falls apart when she discovers a dead
body. Together with Detective Ernest Angle, she's drawn into a dark world of
black ops and Italian renegade masons, of secret cabals and hidden treasure.
Also cloaked in mystery is her new love Gideon Bliss. A George Washington
expert, he haunts the Memorial, his manner evasive. What is his secret? Claire
fears she'll fall in love with him only to learn he's a thief or even a
murderer.

Juggling
eccentric mothers and an increasingly smitten Ernest, our heroine must find
answers in a complex web of intrigue, including which black ops agent to trust,
whether our first president strayed, and if she and Gideon will ever be
together.

Review:

I
was a bit worried that Mason’s Mark: Love
and Death in the Tower would be too similar to Ms. Spencer’s other Old Town
Alexandria murder mystery, but she has managed to give us fresh characters and
a whole new perspective on this quaint, history-laden neighborhood across the
Potomac from Washington, DC, and makes me wish again that I had spent more time
there when I lived in The District in the mid-nineties.

What
a way to start a new job, finding a dead body while giving one’s first tour of
a local landmark.And what a cast of
characters—a cop with a crush on Claire, a hunky Senator with something to
hide, renegade Italian Masons with possible mob ties, and a possible scandal
around President George Washington?Needless
to say, this book was difficult to put down.And even better, Ms. Spencer is a “clean” writer—no head-hops or comma
splices here.Not to mention the fact
that she keeps me guessing right up to the very end, a difficult feat,
indeed.For a wonderful romp through our
nation’s history and a wonderful area just across the river from DC, I highly
recommend Mason’s Mark: Love and Death in
the Tower.

You’ll
notice we always include the publisher’s buy link.That’s because authors usually receive 40% of
the book price from the publisher.Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes &
Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author,
editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book
Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.If you buy the book at Amazon, the author
will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your
computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer
to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your chord into a USB port on
your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your
Kindle/Documents/Books directory. You can download your books onto your
computer using “Save As” to a “Books” file you create and sort them into
sub-folders by genre, author, or however you wish before transferring them to
your Kindle. That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on
your computer. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her
royalty statement.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Another
blink, another stab of pain. Cameron Matthews is not prepared to handle the
betrayal. One death after another leaves him not trusting anyone on his team.
Desperate to find answers, Cameron spins a web of deception in hopes of
capturing The Ghost and the traitor before anyone else is Betrayed.

Cameron
chases The Ghost around the world, including the Cayman Islands and Japan in
hopes of saving innocent lives and the career of Japan’s Prime Minister. The
Ghost and the traitor inside Cameron’s team have been one step ahead of him,
and it has cost many people their lives.

Throwing
all caution to the wayside, Cameron mounts a last ditch effort to stop The
Ghost and the traitor. What will the cost be to succeed?

Review:

Betrayed kept me reading, but I found the
ending depressing and disappointing. I can’t say anymore without spoiling it.
Suffice to say, it left plenty of room for sequels, and cliff-hangers are among
my pet peeves. I often figure out who did it half way through the book. In this
case, the author hit me over the head with it, yet Cameron, the hero didn't
figure it out until the very end. I spent half the book screaming at him to
wake up and realize with whom he was dealing when he had a photo of the culprit
in front of him, and more than ample evidence as to who the mole was. And
again, there was the depressing ending. I like to feel good when I finish a
book, but I was really upset at the end of this one. Yes, the cost of Cameron's
success was way too high.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

While working as a fur
trapper in Labrador, Canada, Clarence Birdseye encountered an age-old problem:
bad food and an unappealing, unhealthy diet. However, he observed that fresh
vegetables wetted and left outside in the Arctic winds froze in a way that
maintained their integrity after thawing. As a result, he developed his
patented Birdseye freezing process and started the company that still bears his
name. Birdseye forever changed the way we preserve, store, and distribute food,
and the way we eat. Mark Kurlansky’s vibrant and affectionate narrative reveals
Clarence Birdseye as a quintessential “can-do” American inventor—his other
patents include an electric sunlamp, a harpoon gun to tag finback whales, and
an improved incandescent lightbulb—and shows how the greatest of changes can
come from the simplest of ideas and the unlikeliest of places.

Review:

Birdseye:The
Adventures of a Curious Man
by Mark Kurlansky is the fascinating biography of the brilliant, yet modest, nineteeth
century man whose name we know for frozen vegetables. Green peas are but a very
small part of the story behind this intricate character. Clarence (Bob)
Birdseye was a born “foodie” long before being so was a popular pastime in
America. Although he had no college degree, he was a man of abundant intelligence
and endless curiosity. He was an inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist. He
patented over 300 inventions—many not related to the food industry, such as the
reflective lamp that is still in use today. Birdseye was very articulate and
persuasive. He was a man of high expectations, who was a leader in helping to
establish regulations for quality and safety through high food standards. He
became one of the world’s most famous and respected personalities. At one time,
people everywhere were interested in the “next idea out of his kitchen or
basement.”

I totally enjoyed
reading about this kind, adventurous, and very likeable person who became a
national and international figure. His own words sum him up best: “I am never
bored because I am always prying into something which fascinates me.” I highly
recommend this book to all!

You’ll
notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.That’s because authors usually receive 40% of
the book price from the publisher.Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes &
Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author,
editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book
Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.If you buy the book at Amazon, the author
will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is
as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB
port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to
your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.I
actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my
computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and
then transfer them to my Kindle from there.That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my
computer.Your author will be happy you
did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Taking
over the police chief’s job in her hometown should have been easy for Callie
Johnson. At least that's what she thought. After working in a big city, small
town crime would be a breeze. What a surprise when she arrives to find her
grandmother, the judge, accused of murder. As if that wasn't enough she’s
attacked while walking to her car. Between criminal investigations, her nutty
family’s antics and her Aunt Beatrice Lulu's matchmaking, Callie definitely has
her work cut out for her. Will her grandmother be exonerated? Can Callie ward
off her aunt’s unsuitable suitors? What other surprises were in store for her?
More importantly, can she find the person who attacked her?

Review:

All
in the Family is a pleasant read with funny, engaging characters who pull you
in, keep you interested, and make you laugh out loud in public places. The book
is well-paced, but there were some glaring editorial glitches. Most of the book
is written in third person, but there were places where it jumped into first
person narration. There was also some major head-hopping—changing point-of-view
in the middle of scenes. I know Ms. Dowell and she’s usually very professional.
I confess, I’m very disappointed. But then, she’s changed publishers. Maybe her
new one doesn’t have the same standards as her old one.

As
I said, All in the Family is a very pleasant read. If you’re not as nit-picky as
I am, you’ll probably enjoy it a lot.